Containers of numerous types, for containment of varied items and in numerous fields have been heretofore devised and used. Normally the container is specifically designed for a particular type of use and to provide certain desirable end features or characteristics in use.
Containers have heretofore been known and used which incorporated features for security or integrity of the container and the contents thereof. Some such containers were complex in form, expensive to manufacture, of a nature requiring multiple handlings and interchange between initial users and those having access to the container content for their use and/or recording purposes and the like.
Heretofore, however, there have not been readily available containers having, compositely, the elements of security, strength, low initial cost, ease of handling, elimination of complex closure and security means and which provided for economies of handling time in various fields of usage. In many such areas of use, it is highly desirable that a container be available which will satisfy the needs such as for bank night depositories, hospitals and medical facilities for sterility, integrity, identification and insurance of a non-contaminated single usage.
Other uses where security of personal or negotiable property is of a vital nature or consideration, such as in police departments, hotels, brokerage houses, legal documents such as wills, registered mail, and many other possibilities, all require containers having high integrity and security in use, while providing the same in a facile and relatively inexpensive manner.
While the present invention will be specifically described in one form, as a money container for customers of banks in a bank's night depository system, it is obviously not limited to such a principal function. In this connection, however, the most commonly used container currently consists of a bag of woven cloth material having a built-in lock. The customer or user of this bank bag normally has one key to the lock, and the bank at least another one or a master key, so that following deposit of a bag by a customer in a night depository system, the bag can be opened by bank personnel and necessary record entries, etc. be made.
It is well known that presently used devices are not only expensive in manufacture, but that the containers themselves are subject to deterioration, and following use by a customer in a bank night depository system, the bag or container must be returned to the customer for subsequent use. This interchange involves a substantial time element by bank and/or customer personnel.
It is also known that locks, depending upon the degree of sophistication of the locking mechanism, with comparable increases in cost of highly sophisticated mechanisms, are still subject to being compromised by persons skilled in such types of endeavors.
It is therefore a primary purpose of the present invention to provide a container which will satisfy needs of various types of users and industries and with a minimization of heretofore existing drawbacks. In essence, it is a desire of the present invention to provide a container having high integrity and which is tamper resistant in use. The container preferably is inexpensive in initial manufacture, utilizing, preferably, an opaque or transparent, high shear and impact resistant, plastic material. The bag in use has an access opening which is closable and sealable by its user. The sealing means consists of pressure sensitive adhesive material applied on surfaces adjacent to the access opening and which are mateable when it is desired to close and seal the container. This pressure sensitive adhesive material, when once mated with identical material on another surface, is virtually permanent and tamper-proof. This renders the container difficult for subsequent access to the interior thereof, and contents therein, in the absence of a rupturing or destruction of the container, its material or the sealing adhesive.
As will be seen, the present invention also provides for ready indication of attempts to tamper or otherwise open the container by the use of distortable visible indicia or the like.
In order to satisfy needs in various endeavors or businesses, it is of the essence that ownership of a container, and its contents, be readily identifiable and verifiable. The present invention as will appear hereinafter satisfies these latter needs as well as the foregoing.
As will be noted in the following detailed description and disclosure of a single preferred embodiment of the invention, the container of the invention provides not only the features of security as above mentioned, but additionally the container is designed and intended for a single use, thereafter being disposable since the container is basically non-reusable by virtue of the closure being non-resealable, and destruction of the container having been incurred in attempted opening for access thereinto.